Chiefs favored over Bengals in preseason Week 1

The Chiefs opened up as favorites over the Cincinnati Bengals for Saturday’s preseason Week 1 matchup at Arrowhead Stadium.

Most sportsbooks currently have Kansas City listed as 3.5-point favorites now at a minimum. Oddshark has the over/under point total set at 36, while their simulation has the Chiefs winning the game 29.4 to 16.6 points. They expect the Chiefs to win, cover the spread and go over the point total.

This is the first preseason game, which means Chiefs quarterbacks will each get roughly a quarter of playtime against the Bengals. Starting QB Patrick Mahomes will begin the game with Kansas City’s first team and Chad Henne will come in with the second team and so on. I wouldn’t expect Mahomes to get a full quarter of play. If he marches down the field and scores on the first drive, he’ll be warming the bench the rest of the game.

The Bengals have already ruled out several players for the preseason debut including Carl Lawson, Geno Atkins, Tyler Eifert, Joe Mixon, Giovani Bernard. The Chiefs have yet to rule out any players and don’t seem to be keen on resting any of their starters.

There’s no word on how long the Bengals will play their starters for, but even without the star power listed above, this team will provide a big challenge for the Chiefs. Keep in mind that we’ll see mostly second, third and fourth string players during this preseason game from both teams. Those players won’t be as polished as the starting unit and are more prone to mistakes.

Gamblers putting money on preseason games should do so with extra discretion. These games are volatile and almost impossible to predict given the lack of game-planning and the young players involved.

In the 2018 preseason opener the Chiefs were favored over the Texans, yet the Texans walked away with a 17-10 victory over the Chiefs.

Gallery

Chiefs' 53-man roster projection: What has Kansas City shown us ahead of preseason play?